Thursday, August 31, 2006

Today was a great day with finback whales. On both our 10:00 am and 2:00 pm departure we spent time with finback whales, the second largest animal in the world. On our morning departure we also had a pair of minke whales traveling together, a rare sight. Below you can see the Island Link, our power cruiser out on a chartered whale watch, with a finback whale.

While on a chartered trip over to Campobello Island we were treated to a rare sight of a breaching minke whale. You can clearly see the white bands on the pectoral flippers.

I will keep you posted on our sightings tomorrow, thanks for checking in.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Despite the forecast of strong winds and fog we had a good with great sightings of both a finback and a humpback whale. We spent our 2 trips today with Repeat, a humpback whale. Also on our 10:00 am trip we saw a minke whale in Head Harbour Passage and on our 2:00 pm departure we had a finback whale off Bliss.

Here you can see Repeat's dorsal fin. Notice the white "rake" marks. Speaking with humpback researchers at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) they believe these marks are from an orca attack during the calf year. We have been seeing Repeat for the past week now and PCCS told us that Repeat hasn't been seen since 2004 off Massachusetts. These pictures were taken yesterday, when the sun was shining. With the mist and weather today I didn't take out my camera and just enjoyed with my eyes. Keep watching for more updates.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

This evening's trip was an experience of a life time. We arrived just NE of Eastern Wolf and got some nice looks and spent some time with Quarternote and Parachute. After about 40 minutes both whales were traveling together and they came towards the boat, making close passes, circling us and spyhopping (taking their heads out of the water). I spend my days from June-October watching whales and being curious about them and tonight, to have that curiosity obviously returned was absolutely incredible. I want to mention that close encounters like this is rare. Below you can see some photographs from our 5:30 trip.

Above you can see Parachute closer to the boat. Note the long, white pectoral flippers and you can also see barnacles around the chin of Parachute.

Here you can see a spyhop. Note the barnacles and the ventral grooves (pleats than run down the belly side in rorqual whales to allow expansion while feeding).

Above Quarternote is closer to the boat (notice the square dorsal fin).

A very close encounter with Parachute. Quarternote is on the other side of "him".

I always say my job is a privledge, to be able to spend the amount of time I do with whales, and tonight was an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Hello there, it's Danielle, senior naturalist and photographer with Quoddy Link Marine. We had 3 great trips today, barely a breath of wind and blue skies. Our morning and afternoon we were west of Southern Wolf with Repeat, a humpback whale we have been seeing for the past week. On both trips we were able to stop and spend some time with a finback whale just south of Blacks Harbour. On our evening trip we traveled out to Eastern Wolf in search of humpbacks. We saw a finback on our way, a nice surprise, and we continued to the east and found both Parachute and Quarternote (below). It was 3 great trips and with a good forecast for Sunday, tomorrow should be another great day for whale watching out of St. Andrews.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Hello, it's Danielle, senior naturalist and photographer with Quoddy Link Marine. We had another great day with humpback whales. We spent all 3 trips with Parachute (left) and Quarternote (below, can you guess how Quarternote got his named by looking at his fluke?). Parachute was active again today on our 5:30 trip, I don't have any pictures from that trip, I was in the office. They are calling for light winds for the next 2 days so I will keep you posted on our sightings. Thanks for checking in.

Well, we had 2 trips today, August 24th, that we were able to get offshore to see humpbacks (the wind picked up in the afternoon but we had some great close encounters with a large finback whale).

On our 10:00 am trip we have the pleasure of watching Parachute be VERY active. This does not happen on every trip. Humpbacks do breach a lot but the odds that it happens during every departure is very rare.

Here you can clearly see Parachutes ventral pleats. The grooves allow expansion so when "he" feeds this area can expand and he can take a huge gulp of water in and filter that water, getting more food with just one mouthful. This makes them more efficient feeders.

On our evening trip Hobo continued our amazing lucky streak. He breached and lob tailed for about 10 minutes, so amazing to see.

Well, what a day August 23rd was. It started off with a morning and an afternoon trip offshore by Eastern Wolf spent with humpbacks. In the afternoon we were treated to a close encounter by Quarternote (right) and Repeat traveling side by side.

The came the 5:30 departure. We were traveling east and we could see a humpback whale breaching in the distance. When we arrived we discovered it was a new whale we had just seen the day before (now known to be Sonogram, the 2004 calf of PeeDee). Sonogram continued to breach for over an hour and was still breaching when we had to leave for St. Andrews because twilight was approaching and it was an hour ride home. What a trip, such a priveledge and a very rare sight.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Well, despite some winds in various directions we have been able to travel out to the eastern end of the Wolves for the past 2 days and spend some time with humpback whales. Today we had 3 new whale sightings! I will make sure to let you know their identities when I learn them myself.

I believe this is Quarternote, but I have to have that confirmed.

Keep in touch, everyday is different, you never know what or who we may see.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

The past 2 days have come with some weary forecasts but we have managed to get some great trips in. On Saturday, August 19th, on the 10:00 am trip we made our way north-east of Eastern Wolf and found 4 humpback whales in a hole in the fog: Parachute (image on the left), Hobo, and 2 yet to be identified. The afternoon and evening trip we remained in the shelter of Campobello Island and watched minke and finback whales.

The forecast today was for strong easterly winds and thunder storms, neither of which materialized. We spent our 10:00 am and 2:00 pm trip off Eastern Wolf with 2 humpbacks yet to be identified in the morning and Hobo and Parachute in the afternoon.

I'll keep you posted on the identity of the unknown humpbacks, stay tuned.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Hello, it's Danielle, senior naturalist and photographer with Quoddy Link Marine. We have had 2 great days with humpbacks. 5 humpbacks both yesterday and today, 3 of which are new individuals. Humpbacks are identified by the black and white pigmentation on the underside of their fluke as well as the shape of their dorsal fin.Hobo, a whale we have seen many times this summer, as well as in 2005.

A new whale, yet to be identified. This humpbacks tail has a very unique shape with both edges of the fluke turning up and is very stiff.

Parachute, a whale we have become very familiar with over the past few weeks. We have seen Parachute every year since 2003.

Another new individual with an almost all black tail. "His" dorsal fin is very rounded.

The third new individual, with a black tail with a few special white spots. This humpbacks dorsal fin has a hooked shape, so it is easily distinguished from the humpback directly above.

As soon as I get a positive identification on the humpbacks I will let you know. Below you can see 2 pictures of Hobo and the Quoddy Link taken today while I was out on our scout boat. Keep checking back for more updates.

Monday, August 14, 2006

We've had a great few days out on the water. On August 12th and the 13th we had both finback and humpback whales. The whales have been great lately but the species and number we see on every departure varies. Wildlife always changes, that's one of the things I love about my job. Above you can see a pair of finback whales traveling together. This is a special sight because baleen whales are not always seen in pairs or larger groups. They do not form close associations the way that toothed whales do, and the associations they do form for feeding and traveling and usually short-lived. Below you can see a few pictures taken from our 5:30 trip on August 13th. Parachute, a humpback whale we have been seeing quite often spent about 15 minutes slapping the surface of the water with his tail. Such a priveledge to see and it certainly doesn't happen on every trip.

Well, they are calling for some bad weather tomorrow but I will keep you posted on our sightings.

2015 Humpback Sightings

2015 North Atlantic Right Whale Sightings

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I have been working for Quoddy Link Marine since 2002. I graduated from the University of Guelph with an honors BSc. in Marine Biology. I'm in charge of photographing, identifying and recording the whales that we see and sharing that information with Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA and the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station on Grand Manan, NB. It's a privledge to have the opportunity to spend the amount of time I do on the water with the whales, they are absolutly amazing creatures.

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All photographs on this blog have been taken by me, Danielle Dion, unless otherwise stated. You have permission to copy, save and/or print any images for you own personal use only. It would be greatly appreciated if credit is given on your personal blogs or Facebook pages. If you want to use any images for commercial uses, such as a business website, please contact me prior to use at danielle.m.dion@hotmail.com